The latest teenager hoping to become the youngest person to sail solo around the world has crashed into a 63,000-tonne cargo carrier off the north-east coast of Australia, days before the start of her record-breaking attempt.

But 16--year-old Jessica Watson, who survived the collision virtually unscathed, has vowed to try again once her 34ft boat, the Pink Lady, is repaired.

"The whole incident gives me confidence, wow, I can actually handle this," she told reporters after navigating the damaged yacht back to harbour.

Watson, from Queensland, was on a trial-run earlier today when she collided with the Hong Kong-registered Silver Yang, which was on its way to China. The crash damaged the Pink Lady's mast and deck but Watson escaped with a graze behind the knee.

"It could have happened to anyone. I'm unlucky I suppose, but you also learn from it," she said.

An investigation is to be carried out into the circumstances of the accident, which happened while Watson was below deck. On her last blog entry before the incident Watson wrote yesterday: "I better go and fire the radar up, turn the navigation lights on and have one last check of everything on deck before it gets dark."

Investigator Mike Squires told the Melbourne newspaper the Age that the tanker appeared to have seen the yacht before the crash.